Literature Review: Supporting Struggling Readers

Katherine Dudych
Abstract

In 2013, the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program identified Manitoba as the province having the
lowest reading achievement scores of grade 8 students across Canada. These poor results
serve as an indicator that changes to the way teachers support struggling readers in the
classroom and beyond its walls are essential. Struggling readers require specific skills to be
taught to them in order to make gains in reading. Research in the area of identifying teaching
strategies that support struggling readers in the classroom has highlighted several emergent
themes. Increased student engagement results when teachers use strategies such as teacher-
led read-alouds and e-books, and when students have choice in what they read. In addition,
explicit instruction in phonological awareness and abundant opportunities to practise reading,
both at home and at school, improve reading skills. When classroom instruction is not enough,
research identifies that both Levelled Literacy Intervention and Reading Recovery are effective
out-of-class intervention programs. Teachers are the ones who make a difference in supporting
struggling readers through the use of concise and direct teaching methods. This paper
addresses aspects that will assist the struggling reader to achieve success.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize research in the area of teaching strategies that
support struggling readers. Reading is an important area of academic research because “many
students struggle academically because of their persistent reading problems” (Abler-Morgan,
2006, p. 273). This paper takes a close look at several studies and their findings, including
recommended teaching strategies that have proven to be effective in supporting struggling
readers. The need to find ways to refine teaching practice, particularly to teach more effectively
and concisely, serves as the motivation for this literature review. When teaching students at
varying reading levels, with specific strengths and weaknesses, teachers need to be directly
attuned to individual students’ needs and work to create some immediate change in an effort to
increase students’ engagement in their own learning. This paper examines the essential skills
that students need, and specific teaching strategies and programs that have been proven
through research to support struggling readers both inside and outside the classroom setting.

Research Rationale

Focusing my research on identifying ways to support struggling readers in the classroom

has been driven by my professional experiences as an early years teacher over the past 15
years. As a teacher, I am always looking for ways to improve my practice, and I have used
many different programs to support my teaching over the years. In my experience, when new
teaching approaches have been offered or shown to me, it has been with the assurance of
embracing what “research says” is the latest and greatest way to teach, without my really
knowing, directly and for myself, what the research has actually found. Any publishers of
programs or initiatives can provide research that is biased in efforts to support their particular
programs. Throughout the Interpreting Educational Research course, I have learned that as a
consumer of research, I need to look directly at research studies to determine the best practice
for teaching reading and which methods to use when supporting struggling students in the
classroom.
I currently work in a school with declining enrolment, with current school enrolment at 145
students and class sizes of around 20 students. This is a manageable number of students for a
teacher to have in a class, but within each class are many social, emotional, and academic
needs, both diagnosed and undiagnosed. Teaching in a small school has advantages for

52 BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2015

teachers in that we are able to build relationships with all of our students on a personal basis.
This positively affects student learning due to an increased sense of belonging and
connectedness to caring adults. However, a small school also has disadvantages for teachers.
With declining enrolment comes decreased support staff time allotment. This directly affects
teachers, as well as student learning, because the available classroom support is insufficient to
meet the learning needs of every student. Teachers need to be able to identify strategies that
support learning for their particular context, because it is the teachers and not necessarily the
program used that engenders student success. While all areas of learning are important to
support, recent scores of Manitoban students on the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program
(PCAP, 2013) identify that our students are lagging behind the rest of Canada in reading
(O’Grady & Houme, 2014).

PCAP 2013 Reading Results

The PCAP is a program designed to inform Canadians about how well our educational
system is doing. In addition to providing current achievement data, it records changes over time
in grade 8 students’ scores in reading, mathematics, and science. Within the reading domain,
the PCAP assesses reading comprehension, interpretation, and response to text (O’Grady &
Houme, 2014). The reading portion of the 2013 PCAP painted a less than favourable picture of
Manitoba’s students in reading achievement.
Manitoba’s reading scores were the lowest in Canada at 469, well below the Canadian
mean of 508 in both English and French language schools (O’Grady & Houme, 2014, p. 42).
Changes over time indicate that Manitoba’s reading scores have continued to decline steadily
(when assessed in 2007, 2010, and 2013). The 2013 study has some identifiable limitations that
lead a research consumer to question the overall validity of the results: (a) participant selection
did not clearly identify whether any (or which) private schools with a strong academic focus
were included in the data; (b) the role that socio-economic factors played in affecting Manitoba’s
scores due to our high child poverty rate was not explored; (c) without explanation, the northern
territories were not included in the PCAP data; and (d) specific assessment questions were not
identified. Having this information would identify the specific areas of weakness in Manitoba
students’ reading skills. It is hard to improve practice when we do not have a clear picture of
what we need to improve.
Regardless of the limitations to the PCAP study, the results are clear that Manitoba
teachers need to reflect on current teaching practice and make changes to improve the quality
of reading instruction that our students receive. We cannot simply continue to teach in our
current manner and expect our students to do better on future PCAP assessments.

Classroom Instruction

Research in reading identifies several reoccurring themes deemed essential to support

struggling readers. Teachers are the ones who make a difference in the classroom. By
increasing student engagement, providing explicit instruction, teaching phonological awareness,
and developing strong home-school connections, teachers can assist struggling readers in
making gains toward closing the reading gap.

Student Engagement

A key factor that influences student success in reading is student engagement. When
readers struggle, engagement in classroom activities is often decreased. Early on, students
identify and begin to compare their own skills (academic and not) to those of their siblings and
classmates. Reading skills are observed by students; as such, without ever identifying specific
reading levels, children quickly determine who is a “better reader.” Wiseman (2012) studied the

BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2015 53

effects of not measuring up to classmates in a case study of kindergarten student Kevin, who at
five years old had already disengaged during literacy instruction due to his low reading skills.
Because no two learners learn at the same rate, teachers need to be aware of learning needs
and support their students in fostering an eagerness to learn at a rate and in a way that enables
individual success.
Wiseman (2012) cited a study by Good and Nicols (2001), which indicated that
performance gaps in “at-risk” students are partially linked to instructional opportunities in
classrooms. I agree with Wiseman that a deficit-based approach to teaching is often taken in
schools rather than one that builds on strengths. In efforts to improve reading skills, I often
become disenchanted and overwhelmed by what individual students cannot do, and I forget to
look at all that they can do and how far they have progressed as readers. Wiseman also cited
the work of Allington and Cunningham (2002), to provide an example of an ineffective teaching
strategy that decreases engagement: “When students spend more time on isolated skills
instruction and extensive repetition, the end result is disengagement and frustration” (p. 257).
Understanding this statement, and seeking to teach in a manner with which all students can be
successful, active participants in lessons, Wiseman identified interactive read-alouds to be an
effective strategy that increases student engagement and literacy skills.
Interactive read-alouds provide all students with the opportunity to be challenged and to
extend their thinking and understanding of reading through teacher-directed modelling and
higher order questioning. During Wiseman’s (2012) nine-month qualitative study, a three-
member study team observed the kindergarten classroom four times a week from October to
May. Data were collected during morning meeting, read-aloud, and writing times. Field notes
focused on teacher instruction, student interaction, and responses to read-alouds by student
participant Kevin. The study findings indicated that despite Kevin’s struggles due to low reading
skills, which led to disengagement and frustration during instruction, read-alouds “provided
Kevin with opportunities to contribute in class in ways that extended his thinking about reading”
(Wiseman, p. 264). As the year progressed, Kevin’s responses became increasingly
sophisticated, and demonstrated deeper understanding, personal connections, and higher
levels of engagement. Kevin’s “responses paralleled the teacher’s emphasis on complex
thinking and open-ended responses” (Wiseman, p. 266). Wiseman used the case study data to
determine that read-alouds are an effective teaching strategy to increase student understanding
and engagement in literacy.
Just as read-aloud books are carefully chosen by teachers to promote interest and
engagement by students, so too should appealing books be chosen for both guided and
independent reading opportunities. Teachers need to have many books available at all reading
levels, so that students can choose what they want to read. Interest in a book’s topic and
relatability to characters are important elements that foster reading engagement. E-books have
quickly become available for readers of all skill levels, and many websites and publishing
companies identify them as an effective tool to increase student engagement.
Jones and Brown (2011) detailed a study with the purpose of examining reading
engagement and comprehension of children as they read e-books. The participants were 22
grade 3 students who were determined by their teacher to be reading at grade level. Study data
were obtained through enjoyment surveys and comprehension scores. The results indicated
that most students did not have a preference between reading e-books or traditional print book
format, but rather that the key factor of reading satisfaction was having a wide selection of
books from which to choose. That does not mean that teachers should not use e-books, but that
they can be used in addition to a print book library in order to increase book and format choice,
and thus contribute to student engagement in reading. “Reading motivation and engagement
are enhanced when students have choice in reading material” (Jones & Brown, p.16).
In order to engage students in reading, especially those who struggle, teachers need to
orchestrate the reading process with success for all students as the end goal. Read-alouds are
an example of modelling what good reading sounds like. They also invite students to participate

54 BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2015

in rich literature-based discussions. Book discussions increase student confidence in that a
teacher can acknowledge all responses and purposefully choose students to participate, thus
facilitating strong student engagement. Choice of books is essential in promoting reading. Just
as adults will not easily engage in books that are too difficult or that they are not interested in
reading, neither will children. Regardless of the format, whether e-books or traditional print
materials, teachers need to have an abundant library and give students freedom to choose what
they read in order to have truly engaged readers. Once a student has the freedom to choose a
book of his/her interest area and reading level, explicit teaching is essential for the student to
acquire the necessary skills and strategies to become a better reader and be fully engaged in
reading.

Explicit Instruction

Explicit instruction involves individualized or small-group instruction that is specific to

student learning needs. It targets a skill or strategy that the student needs to work on in order to
become a better reader. Explicit instruction often occurs during small-group guided reading
sessions wherein a teacher can focus on, but is not limited to, strategies such as phonological
awareness, decoding, and segmenting skills.
Guided reading involves an opportunity for a teacher to read with students in small groups.
In guided reading, students can be grouped either homogeneously or heterogeneously by
reading abilities or by strategies that are being worked on, such as rereading or chunking
letters. During guided reading sessions, the teacher provides direct instruction that meets
individual student learning needs. This is essential for student learning, as Wiseman (2012)
explained from Stevens, Van Meter, and Warcholak’s (2010) research results that “explicit
instruction in reading strategies, such as understanding story structure or using contest clues to
identify unknown words, has been shown to increase student reading abilities and
comprehension” (p. 257).
McIntyre, Rightmyer, Powell, Powers, and Petrosko (2006) undertook a study to determine
the amount of time that students should spend reading connected text in school. Their
participants were 66 grade 1 students who were identified by their teachers as struggling
readers in 26 classrooms in the United States. These students had scored in the lowest 20% on
reading assessments in their classes. McIntyre et al. collected data through observations and
interviews of the teachers with reference to their teaching practices. They looked at the amount
of time that students spent reading connected text, defined as text with meaningful sentences,
one or more sentences in length. The reading contexts included echo reading, choral reading,
guided reading both silent and oral, and independent reading time. Read-aloud time, direct
instruction to the class, word work, and non-print responses to literature were also addressed.
McIntyre et al.’s (2006) study did not provide a numerical value to answer the following
question: How much should young children read? Rather, the results show that the most
important factor in predicting and supporting reading success for struggling readers is “the kind
of reading practice (and other instruction) that is occurring in the classroom” (McIntyre et al., p.
64). McIntyre et al. stressed the importance of teacher mediation for early readers to build
reading skills, because “the first-grade children who gained the most were either provided
guided reading practice or independent reading with feedback” (p. 66). Grade 1 learners are not
typically ready for independent reading and are not usually able to apply what has been taught
during reading instruction independently. McIntyre et al. suggested that phonics instruction is
effective in supporting reading growth, but it needs to be child specific to be most effective.

Phonological Awareness

Much research has been done into the importance of phonological awareness and phonics
skills for beginning readers. Phonological awareness is a “strong and significant predictor of

BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2015 55

word reading skills in elementary children” (Park & Lombardino, 2013, p. 83). These decoding
skills are especially important in the early stages of reading, when students are learning to read
and need to be taught directly by the teacher. Phonological awareness is essential for word
recognition, and word recognition is a foundational skill for reading comprehension.
In efforts to support struggling readers, Park and Lombardino (2013) recommended specific
strategies that teachers can use during instruction time to improve phonics skills: phonological
awareness, phonics/decoding instruction, spelling instruction, vocabulary instruction, and
morphological instruction. These components work together to increase students’ phonics skills
during word study instruction. Effective teachers use all of these during reading instruction time,
in order to engage, model, coach, and provide direct instruction that supports students in
developing reading skills.

Beyond Classroom Instruction

When classroom instruction is not enough, struggling readers require a more intensive
approach to instruction in order to improve their skills. Intensive instruction is most effective
when a highly skilled teacher of reading administers it. Choosing an effective reading
intervention program from the many available can be difficult. Research consumers need to be
cautioned by claims made by publishers that their programs are the “best” or “most effective.”
Publishers have the ability to create a study whose results are favourable toward the product
that they want to sell. Having noted that, two programs that I am familiar with for intensive
support are Levelled Literacy Intervention (LLI) and Reading Recovery.

Levelled Literacy Intervention (LLI)

LLI is a program that was developed by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnel and is published
by Heinemann. Schools within Pembina Trails School Division, where I teach, use Fountas and
Pinnell’s assessment kit to determine our students’ reading levels. With a developing trend of
experiencing an increased number of students in grades 1 and 2 who were reading below grade
level expectations, my school purchased the LLI intervention kit to augment classroom reading
instruction. LLI is designed to support students in kindergarten to grade 2. Its goal is to provide
intensive, rich instruction that will elevate reading scores at a rate more rapid than with regular
classroom instruction.
The LLI program requires little teacher training, and includes instructional videos to support
program implementation. Ransford-Kaldon et al. (2010) conducted a study to determine the
efficacy of LLI as an intervention program to support kindergarten to grade 2 students. In each
of the three grades, student achievement in reading was greater for those who received LLI
instruction than for those who did not receive LLI intervention. This was determined through
benchmark assessments to determine the number of reading levels that each student increased
post-intervention compared to initial testing scores. When surveyed, the teachers who took part
in the study agreed that the LLI program was effective and positively influenced their reading
instruction for their struggling readers.
In my experience with LLI, it is laid out in simple-to-follow lessons. Each lesson has
reading, comprehension, word work, and phonics/phonemic awareness components, and
follows the same basic structure. Books have reoccurring characters that students can relate to.
LLI is conducted in a small-group setting; three students is the recommended number for small-
group LLI instruction. Each lesson is designed to be 30 minutes in duration. As a classroom
teacher attempting to administer the intervention, this time frame is often difficult to achieve. I
have had to modify lessons, often shortening them so as to work within the confines of regular
classroom routines. Despite the need to make modifications to the program, because of the
success that my students have experienced I agree with Ransford-Kaldon et al. (2010) that LLI

56 BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2015

is an effective intervention for struggling readers, which is more intensive than regular
classroom lessons.

Reading Recovery

For students who require an even more intensive reading intervention, Reading Recovery is
available in many schools. Reading Recovery is designed to accelerate a student’s literacy
skills. It takes place through intensive, daily, one-on-one instruction and includes a nightly home
reading component. Daily lessons are 30 minutes in duration and have three sections: (a)
familiar reading and a running record, (b) alphabet, word work, and writing, and (c) introducing
and reading a new book. Each of the three segments of a lesson receives equal amounts of
emphasis and time (10 minutes). Students selected for Reading Recovery are in the lowest
achieving 20% of grade 1 students within the school. This is determined through standardized
assessments from An Observation Survey of Literacy Achievement (Clay, 2013). A student is
typically in Reading Recovery for 10 to 20 weeks. When students are discontinued from
Reading Recovery, it is because they demonstrate reading and writing skills that are equivalent
to the average level of their peers at that particular point in time.
Jesson and Limbrick (2014) found that students who receive Reading Recovery
intervention continue to be at risk and require monitoring by teachers to ensure that their skills
continue to be at par with their peers. As well, a school focus on literacy, home-school
connections and communication, high levels of literacy expectations for all students, and a
collective responsibility by all staff are all necessary for Reading Recovery students to sustain
their reading skills post-intervention.
Although the selection process and the number of students who can receive Reading
Recovery support in a school each year is small, the program itself is effective. Having said that,
every student may not be successfully discontinued (graduated) from the program after 20
weeks, and might need to be referred to other resources for additional support. Even so, those
students are still farther ahead than they would have been if they had received only classroom
instruction. Reading Recovery instruction is not prescribed, nor does it follow a specific lesson
sequence. Teachers are trained and receive ongoing training to identify areas in reading where
individual students require support. One drawback of Reading Recovery is that there are
specific books from which a teacher must choose. There is a variety, but for some students the
books are not engaging and this impedes their reading development. Because Reading
Recovery teachers are highly trained, classroom teachers who are fortunate enough also to be
Reading Recovery trained have a special set of skills that they bring to the classroom to support
all struggling readers.

Reading Practice

While it is important for students to have book choice, as well as a teacher who models
good reading and provides ample opportunities for rich literacy instruction, all readers need
practice to get better. This practice, coined “repeated reading,” can be achieved both at school
and at home. “When students are provided frequent opportunities to orally read text, they make
significant gains in fluency” (Alber-Morgan, 2006, p. 273). Repeated reading is more likely to be
achieved when the books are familiar to the child and are at an independent reading level.
Repeated reading situates the child to practise fluency and orchestrate good reading. Alber-
Morgan (2006) identified daily repeated reading as a crucial supplement to a reading program
that includes immediate and constructive individualized feedback; such an approach is an
effective strategy that helps students to attain optimal reading performance. Repeated reading
can be done at home or at school through partner reading.
Creating peer partnerships with student mentors is an effective strategy to foster student
success in reading in a manner that promotes student engagement. “Learning buddies,” as the

BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2015 57

strategy is often referred to, pairs up a student in an older grade with one in a younger grade.
The younger student has the opportunity to read aloud and receive immediate praise, feedback,
and encouragement from the older buddy. When this initiative is done in cross-grade groupings,
even weaker readers in the older grades are typically able to support the younger readers and
in turn gain confidence in themselves as readers. In my experience, cross-grade buddy reading
is an effective strategy to facilitate engaged reading practice. A benefit to teachers is that it is
not labour intensive for teachers to prepare, beyond creating effective partnerships and
ensuring that students have books that are appropriate to their grade level to read aloud. This
method is further enhanced if a teacher can meet with the older students prior to buddy reading,
in order to teach the older students specific strategies or reading prompts to use with their
younger buddies.

Home Reading

An effective reading program includes a home reading component. Time spent practising
reading at home is essential to consolidate the reading skills being taught at school. In order for
students to be successful readers, they need to read; the more practice reading they have, the
better they will get. A teacher needs to foster the home-school connection and create an open
relationship with families in order to foster parental participation in school programs. No parent
wants to see a child struggle academically, but parents often are challenged by not knowing
how to help. It is a teacher’s responsibility to promote reading at home and to make efforts to
provide parents with the support that they need to make home reading a successful experience
for both parents and children.
Martin (2011), a classroom teacher, observed that families of her students wanted to help
their children academically at home, but were often frustrated due to lack of skills and
understanding how to help. From this observation, Martin conducted a study to determine how
to remove the barriers that inhibit parental support of a child’s reading development at home.
She determined that in order for home reading to be effective, giving parents easy-to-
understand directives, academic support, and the necessary tools is essential. Giving parents
specific guidance for homework removes the barrier that inhibits parental support.
When a teacher uses a variety of strategies within classroom programming, meets
individual learning needs, accesses extra supports when needed, and works in partnership with
parents to support struggling readers, success is more likely to be achieved. Learning to read
cannot be forced, but each step along the way must be celebrated and seen as growth toward
developing a lifelong reader.

Conclusion

Struggling readers require extra support to decrease the achievement gap by developing
reading skills that are at par with those of their peers. Due to staffing limitations, classroom
teachers need to differentiate teaching pedagogy and provide programs that meet individual
needs. Effective teaching practice includes direct teaching instruction that includes teaching
phonological awareness skills, affording opportunities for immediate feedback, providing
students with a rich choice of books, and creating opportunities to practice reading both at
school and at home. It is the teacher who influences the approach to a specific program and
who is the facilitator of learning. When classroom instruction is not enough, interventions such
as Levelled Literacy Intervention and Reading Recovery are needed to supplement, but not to
replace, daily classroom instruction. Teachers must work to ensure that all students receive
daily, rich, quality, targeted reading instruction and provide the necessary tools for effective
home reading practice to occur. When home and school teams work together to support
struggling readers, growth in literacy skills is more likely to occur and the students will have the
necessary skills to catch up to peers who are working at grade level.

58 BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2015

 References

Alber-Morgan, S. (2006). Ten ways to enhance the effectiveness of repeated readings. Journal
of Early and Intensive Behaviour Intervention, 3(3), 273-279.
Clay, M. (2013). An observation study of early literacy achievement (3rd ed.). Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Jesson, R., & Limbrick, L. (2014). Can gains from early literacy interventions be sustained? The
case of reading recovery. Journal of Research and Reading, 37(1), 102-117.
doi:10.1111/1467-9817.12017
Jones, T., & Brown, C. (2011). Reading engagement: A comparison between e-books and
traditional print in an elementary classroom. International Journal of Instruction, 4(2), 5-22.
Retrieved February 6, 2015, from ERIC database. (ED522678)
Martin, C. (2011, August). Providing support to families with specific regard to the removal of
barriers that exist for families trying to provide academic support at home. Retrieved March
4, 2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED526878.pdf
McIntyre, E., Rightmyer, E., Powell, R., Powers, S., & Petrosko, J. (2006). How much should
young children read? A study of the relationship between development and instruction.
Literacy Teaching and Learning, 11(1), 51-72. Retrieved January 10, 2015, from
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ903241.pdf
O’Grady, K. & Houme, K. (2014). PCAP 2013: Report on the Pan-Canadian Assessment of
Science, Reading and Mathematics. Retrieved January 19, 2015, from
http://cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachements/337/PCAP-2013-Public-Report-
EN.pdf
Park, Y., & Lombardino, L. (2013) Exploring the nature of effective word study instruction for
struggling readers: Practical applications for broader perspective of the simple view of
reading. International Journal of Special Education, 28(1), 81-90. Retrieved February 6,
2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1023311.pdf
Ransford-Kaldon, C., Sutton Flynt, E., Ross, C., Franceschini, L., Zoblotsky, T., Huang, Y., &
Gallagher, B. (2010, September). Implementation of effective intervention: An empirical
study to evaluate the efficacy of Fountas and Pinnells’s leveled literacy intervention system
(LLI) 2009-2010. Memphis, TN: University of Memphis, Center for Research in Educational
Policy. Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED544374.pdf
Wiseman, A. M. (2012). Resistance, engagement, and understanding: A profile of a struggling
emergent reader responding to read-alouds in a kindergarten classroom. Reading and
Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 23(3), 255-278.
doi:10.1080/10573569.2012.676407

About the Author

For the past 15 years, Katherine Dudych has been an early years teacher in Pembina Trails
School Division. She is currently working on her Graduate Diploma in special education at
Brandon University, with a special interest in the area of literacy.

BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2015 59